Yards and points were hard to come by as the SMU defense put together another impressive performance in Saturday's 40-10 victory at Stanford.

The Mustangs held Stanford to 206 yards of total offense, including just 33 yards rushing on 35 carries. That included 11 tackles for loss and six sacks, both season highs. The SMU defense under 1-yard per carry and just 4.7 yards per pass. 

And while only giving up 10 points, scored two points of its own with a Cale Sanders Jr. safety. 

"They were just swarming," SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said. "(Stanford quarterback Ashton) Daniels is a great player. After he went out a couple drives in, I do think the young quarterback (Elijah Brown) played really well for a freshman. I thought what they did the best, we stopped the run, which is something that we've really been working hard on."

Stopping the run has been the emphasis all season. The Mustangs currently have the seventh-best rush defense, allowing just 87 rushing yards per game. The 33 rushing yards Stanford finished with was the lowest for any SMU opponent this season.

It was the fourth game allowing under 100 yards rushing and the third without allowing a rushing touchdown.

"That's it right there, first thing's first, stopping that run," senior defensive end Jahfari Harvey said. "You stop that run and you'll be able to eat on third downs. The first thing is pounding that run."

Harvey was a big part of that success, finishing with three tackles for loss and two sacks, both career highs, on his own.

The only points Stanford scored came off turnovers. A 14-yard touchdown drive and gained only five yards before a field goal.

"And they did a really good job of sticking (Elic) Ayomanor," Lashlee said. "He made the great touchdown catch, he's going to make those plays, he's really good at it. But in general, did a nice job making sure we rolled our coverage that way, tried to make someone else beat us. They were solid. We gave up the 10 points off turnovers, but to hold someone to around 200 yards that knows how to play offensive football the way they do, I thought that was really special."

SMU held Ayomanor to his season averages in receptions and yards and never let either quarterback get comfortable. Daniels left the game after going 2-of-5 for 20 yards and two carries for 6 yards, including a 3-yard loss. Meanwhile, the defense intercepted Brown twice and sacked him six times on the day.

"(Daniels), he's able to use his feet a little bit more," Harvey said. "When (Brown) was in there, switch it up, instead of being all about containing we let it loose a little bit more. That's the way, I would say, it switched up the most, not having to contain as much."

All of it started with being good on first and second downs. SMU forced four three-and-outs and didn't give up a first down on Stanford's field goal drive with a short field. The interceptions came on the fifth and second play of the drive, respectively, and the safety was on the second play, too. 

"Just winning first and second down, getting them to have to throw the ball," Harvey said. "I think we had (six) sacks, just getting to put that edge back in and getting after the quarterback.

The SMU offense scored on the first play of the game and the defense never let the Cardinal get back into it.

"I thought our defense was strong throughout," Lashlee said.

With the win, the Mustangs became bowl eligible for a sixth-straight season. It is another check mark on the season's to-do list, but they hope it's not the last.

"It's awesome. Seven games in, to say we're bowl eligible, that's something you've got to check off every year," Lashlee said. "That's your hope. If you want to go somewhere, you've got to get to that point and to do it in our first year in the league is humbling. I think our guys do know we just put ourselves in position to play for stuff continually down the stretch. I don't think we're going to sit around and be satisfied that that's the end result that we want, but it is a big deal. So, really proud of them for that."